Vietnam Tourism in 2020, a year of dealing with double disasters

Covid-19 spilled into Vietnam, international routes closed
Entering 2020, Vietnam's tourism has kept spectacular growth, welcoming approximately 2 million international visitors in January, up 32.8% over the same period in 2019. Everything suddenly changed when Vietnam confirmed received first case of nCoV infection.

From April 1, Vietnam quarantined the whole society, stopping all commercial routes with other countries. Domestic tourism and attractions are closed, and residents are told not to leave their homes when there is no urgent need.

Domestic stimulus for the first time recorded a record number of visitors
Losing the international market, the tourism industry immediately turned to promoting domestic tourism when the epidemic was initially under control. In June 2020, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched the stimulus program "Vietnamese people travel Vietnam", attracting the active participation of departments, associations, localities and businesses. industry and the people. For the first time, domestic tourists enjoy luxury resort services with a discount of 75-80%. Many services that only welcome foreign visitors are now open to domestic customers. After just one month of implementation, more than 8 million domestic tourists traveled, of which 4.1 million were staying. A series of new domestic flights have been opened, carrying out more than 26,000 flights.

Covid-19 reappears, travel "freezes" again
In the midst of an unprecedented prosperity in domestic tourism, Covid-19's reappearance in Da Nang once again dealt a fatal blow to the tourism industry. Businesses experience new difficulties. The rate of tour cancellation, hotel rooms is up to more than 90% in many localities. Damage estimated at more than 600 billion.

Central region "buckled" in storms and floods
Along with the second epidemic wave, in early October, the central region suffered 13 consecutive storms, causing the worst floods and landslides in the past 100 years. A strip of Central Vietnam from Nghe An to Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen is affected by rain and flood. Quang Binh was in deepest flood after 41 years, Hoi An ancient town, Hue royal court and a series of relics, places to stay isolated by flood water.

Domestic demand stimulation for the second time
From the end of September 2020, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism continues to launch the second domestic stimulus program with the theme "Vietnam tourism is safe and attractive", targeting 2 main subjects including people and foreigners living in Vietnam. In this stimulus phase, safety is the top criterion for building tourism products, besides the price attraction, flexible change and refund policies, actively eliminating the psychology of travel fear Post-Covid-19 (in Vietnam). The program has attracted the participation of all localities and travel businesses in order to quickly restore the domestic tourism market. By the end of November 2020, the total number of domestic tourists reached 49 million.

Vietnam tourism faces unprecedented difficulties. More than 95% of international travel businesses stop operating, the entire domestic tourism business is operating moderately, according to the General Department of Tourism. Generally, in the first 6 months of 2020, total revenue from tourists is estimated at 176,800 billion dong, down by nearly 48% over the same period last year. The number of international visitors to Vietnam reached 3.7 million, a decrease of 57%, while domestic visitors only reached 23 million, a decrease of nearly 50%. The occupancy rate in accommodation establishments is about 20%.

Vietnam lost $ 23 billion in revenue Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien said that in November, 2020, Vietnam's tourism lost $ 23 billion. The number of international visitors decreased by 80%, domestic arrivals decreased by more than 50%. Most of the international travel businesses stopped operating, in which, small and medium enterprises operated moderately, cut staff, some did not revolt forever. Millions of tourism workers fell into the situation of losing their livelihoods. It can be said that tourism is one of the industries most heavily affected by Covid-19. However, this is an opportunity for domestic tourism to increase resistance and develop sustainably on the basis of restructuring the tourist market and renewing tourism forms.

In addition to the economic impact, the Covid-19 epidemic has changed the tourist needs and psychology of the people. New trends meet safety criteria, restricting popular places, such as short-term travel, "staycation" (travel in the place you live), virtual tours, ecotourism, nature, community tourism or tourism combined with health care ... The application of smart technology in tourism has also been fully utilized, making it easy for visitors to check the quality of a pandemic destination.

Vietnam won many great awards
Vietnam still affirms its attraction through dozens of international awards despite experiencing a year of many sad marks. In February 2020, Vietnam entered the top 20 fastest growing tourism countries in the world. In November 2020, Vietnam won the category: Asia's Top Heritage Destination, Asia's Top Cultural Destination, and Asia's Top Asian Culinary Destination ... World Travel Awards price. In addition, Vietnam also topped 16 other categories of this "tourism Oscar" award in the fields of travel, aviation, destinations, hotels, resorts ...

The event of a trial injection of Covid-19 vaccine in humans on December 17 opens a hopeful future for Vietnamese tourism. A sustainable recovery scenario with a willingness to return to the track is essential for the Vietnam tourism to flourish in 2021.